Picasso & Theories on Originality

Happy Birthday to me!  Yes, it's my birthday, and I'm 27...which means that I am now officially in my late 20's...  Oh well!  I've never been afraid of being 30.  If any of you reading this were an apparel student with me at RISD, you might still remember one of those 3 o'clock in the morning late night studio conversations when someone brought the subject up.  I think the conversation went something like this:

girl: "Uh, guys...how do you feel about being 30?"

me: "Fine...I guess.  Can't say that I've spent too much time thinking about it...why?"

girl: "Because, well, I really can't picture myself being older than 25, and I don't know that I want to, either."

me: [Pause] "...Well, honestly, I feel like I'm always doing something or other that's unnecessarily stupid, and I'm assuming that when I'm 30, I'll have it more together.  So, in other words, half the time I'd rather be 30 than 20."

girl: [Pause.] [Still pausing..] "You're an old soul."

Not too much has changed, other than my wishing that I felt a little more together about life in general.  They're saying that 30 is the new 20 these days, so maybe this on-going quarter life crisis* is perfectly normal.  I'm not going to worry about it, though.  Most things in life are relative, including one's status at 30.

Ok!  Enough about age.  Back to the point of this entry - which was that it's my birthday, and since birthdays are the only day allowed to us each year where it's both permissible and completely acceptable to be self-indulgent, I am going to talk about one of my favorite topics: fashion's anthropological implications.  (Nerd alert.)

I had this life-changing professor in school who opened up my eyes both to how amazing and relevant fashion history can be.  One of her sayings which has always stayed with me was that "we are all products of our era".  Initially, this was not something that students at an art and design school wanted to hear.  At that point, we were all still egotistical (and naïve) enough to believe that true originality was actually possible.  Unoriginality was considered the unpardonable sin.  To be honest, I'm not sure if that had more to do with our own insecurities, egos, or fear that we would be failed for plagiarism.  But, let's consider two things that Picasso has been oft quoted for saying:

"Bad artists copy.  Good artists steal."

and,

"Art is the elimination of the unnecessary."

So - it's bad to copy, but ok to steal?  And saying that art has to do with elimination implies that to be a good artist, one has to be a good curator.  Aren't curators the ones who arrange and edit what art is shown in a specific space and/or setting, rather than the ones who actually create the artwork being arranged?

Here's what I think he and my professor were trying to say: it is impossible to be completely objective and to create anything free from the influences to which we are daily subjected.  A good artist or designer is aware of this fact and not intimidated by it.  Rather, he or she soaks it all in, accepting what is good and ignoring or rejecting what is bad.  On a practical (and fashion-related) level, this is how people are able to predict trends.  It's a matter of being aware of what's going on in the world socially, economically, politically, artistically, etc.  We are all affected by our culture - whether we realize it or not - and since fashion is one of the most obvious forms of self expression, the way that we choose to dress will be influenced by our chosen response (albeit usually subconscious) to what's going on around us.
There are obvious examples in history of fashion reflecting the politics of the time**, but a more recent instance of pop culture's influence on design has been with Mad Men and our ensuing fascination with all things mid-century modern.  Notice how almost all of J. Crew's pants are cropped or ankle length?  And, how most modern, high-end furniture looks like something you saw at your grandparents' house once?

With all of this current hype about Gatsby*** and everyone's obsession with Downton Abbey (remember that the show has now entered the 20's), it's my assumption that it will affect fashion trends in this next year or two.  It's not that we'll all be dressed like flappers come September, but rather that it might become popular to have short hair again, or that dresses put out for the next holiday season will be over-the-top with embellishment.  Who knows.  But I can guarantee you that artists and designers alike will have these type of things in the back of their heads as they are sketching.  They might be designing a shirt and will think, I really liked something about the one Nick wore in that one scene when he, Gatsby, and Daisy were together at Gatsby's house.  I should figure out what it was that stood out to me.

Speaking of which, I have much to say about the movie (amazing!), but I think I might have to dedicate an entire post to it.

- Kathrine



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*Wait! - Am I too old to be having a quarter life crisis??  27 times 4 is...108.  Crap.

**I started to list out historical examples, but then I realized that you can basically take any period where there's a major social/political revolution or world war going on, and look at how much the fashion (especially for women) changed during those eras.

***I even received an email this morning from PureWow entitled "Gatsby-ed out already?"

J. Crew's Jenna Lyons

http://www.fastcompany.com/multisite_files/fastcompany/imagecache/slideshow_large/slideshow/2013/04/3007843-slide-1920-feature-175-jcrew-devil-wears.jpg

OK, so - if you know me well at all you will know that I am mildly obsessed with J. Crew.  And, if you're following what's going on in fashion right now, you will probably have already read this article in Fast Company.  If you haven't, however, you're in for a treat!  I wish I was able to work in an office decorated like hers, lime-green plastic dinosaur and all.  How could one not be inspired to greatness?  Of course, having a partially hand-written thank you note from Anna Wintour pinned to my wall probably wouldn't hurt, either.

On a more serious note, though - the it almost seems too good to be true with the freedom that the designers are allowed to have.  For the sake of J. Crew's future, I do hope that Drexel and Lyon's current strategy is successful long-term.  When was the last time a major corporate company (at least, supposedly) has regularly allowed designers to use their creative instincts and to really take risks, sacrificing potential profits for better quality and design integrity?  Well, whether risky in business or only apparently so - I say keep it coming.

I Love Cilantro, Unapologetically

lion heart vintage/Flickr.com

I read this article on my NPR app a couple of days ago, and was so amused that I thought I would share it with you.  I have always loved cilantro - thought everyone loved cilantro - until I went to college in Rhode Island.  I discovered there* that such haters actually exist!   

Maybe it was all of the Tex Mex I ate growing up?  Or is it really in the genes, as the NPR article claims?  What do you think?

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*Thanks to someone who ended up becoming a dear friend, despite her dislike for something so essential to my favorite dishes, haha...  (Maybe this is a little pathetic, but I can easily tell you that the easiest way to become fast friends with me - apart from loving Jane Austen, Downton Abbey, and old movies - is by being compatible with me, food-wise.)

And, this is why I blog

I have found so much of what inspires me through my favorite bloggers, that the creative person in me thought it might be appropriate to give it a try at some point - appropriate, like in the way that we say that we will eventually do something but never actually get around to doing it.  I don't even know how long I was talking with my friends about starting a blog before I finally had the courage to do so. 

And then... Pinterest came along.  If you've visited my boards, you will know that I am a bit excessive enthusiastic with my pinning at times.  After pinning some several thousand images (I'm not kidding), I realized that blogging is not necessarily that much more difficult.  It also allows you the freedom to express your thoughts and personal images a bit more clearly.  So - once I quit my job to figure out life, I no longer had any more excuses - et voilà!

I'm still very much in the experimental stages here, and I'm still figuring out what I'd like it to be - but everyone has to start somewhere, no?  Garance said it so clearly in her most recent post that I would like to share it with you here.  It's bloggers like her who encourage me to try something like this, even if it's not the most polished thing at first.  Maybe one day I will be the professional she has become, maybe not.*

So please, have patience with me.  I will never stop envying understand how people in their early twenties can already be so successful in their careers!  Of course it's easier if you're wealthy, but I'm talking more about having such clear vision that enables you to be determined enough to succeed at such a young age.  How does anyone know what they want at 22?  At 26, I'm realizing that the more I learn makes me realize how much much I don't know, that ignorance would obviously prevent me from making the wisest decisions, how I still have the whole world in front of me but don't know what I want, that I don't know what I want for lack of knowing what is worth my having - and it goes on and on.

Perhaps it's easier if you start your career earlier, but then I wouldn't have read all of that English and American literature, I wouldn't have studied as much history, or practiced as much French.**  I like to think that it will somehow inform my future creativity, haha!  Alexander McQueen was quite the academic, wasn't he?  Maybe I'll have a show organized for me at the Met someday??  OK, OK - I know that's enough; I'll stop being dramatic.

But, in short - I'm finding myself stuck somewhere in the middle between the day dreams I had in college and the disillusionment that came with working in the real world as a corporate designer.  Are my dreams merrily a symptom of my unfitness for the fashion industry of today?  Or, are they a hint of what might be to come?  To push for something different (and possibly better), one cannot simply be happy with the status quo.  Like Garance said in her post:

Everything still has to be invented, and to invent it we must try.

So! - I will keep trying.  Maybe if I keep posting irregular things as they come to me, it will be something like my approach to decorating a space.  If, instead of looking for something to furnish a space for the sake of it or being so concerned that everything you buy matches, rather focusing more to choose items that really speak to you in some way (minding of course that you don't get something like 12 rugs just because you like rugs), you will find that in the end, your eclectic assortment of odds and ends somehow speak to the different elements of your personality, consequently allowing your space to look more naturally furnished - and thankfully, without that contrived look that so many model homes have.

Maybe nothing will come of it, but then again - maybe something will.  :)

xx,
Kathrine



*I can tell you now that unless I can (1) get over my laziness to carry around a heavy camera with me in lieu of my iPhone, (2) learn how to be French in that je ne sais quoi kind of way, (3) hunker down long enough to improve my illustration skills, and (4) find a famous blogging/photographing/fashion editing boyfriend, I will never (ever) be in her league.

**I also wouldn't have learned so much about film history from Robert Osborne...any other TCM fans out there??